MINISTER FOR Enterprise Mary Coughlan has insisted in the Dáil that the Government is "firmly of the view that there is and will continue to be a solid future" for a restructured Waterford Wedgwood, despite turning down its request to underwrite a €39 million loan.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore asked "is this Government really going to let Waterford Glass go to the wall?"
His Labour Party colleague and Waterford TD Brian O'Shea questioned how the Minister could reconcile that view of a solid future "with the fact that the company needs loans of €39 million to effect the restructuring package and the company has no capacity to borrow".
It "just doesn't add up", Mr O'Shea said. "Are 550 jobs to be allowed go down the tubes?"
Mr O'Shea, who raised the issue on the adjournment on Wednesday night, had pointed to reports suggesting that the European Commission would not veto State aid in response to the com-pany's request. He said the rejection of the loan guarantee was "incredible in the context of the 550 jobs that are at stake".
In the Dáil yesterday Ms Coughlan said that it was "not possible to devise an approach" that would be acceptable to both the Government and the company.
"We were not in a position to do that. However, as I did say - it is our hope and aspiration that through the restructuring that the Waterford group will find themselves in the situation where they can deal with the issues appertaining to Waterford and the group in its entirety."
The Tánaiste insisted that she was not being blase about what was happening in Waterford, adding that "I did give an undertaking that in the advent of further and future investment that all of the agencies that I represent will do all they can to support the company".
During the adjournment debate Mr O'Shea had claimed the Government's offer "to assist the company in ways other than the loan guarantees is a pathetic and meaningless gesture".
There were 6,586 people unemployed in Waterford in April, an increase of 1,288 on the previous year, he said.
"Without loan guarantees, the future of the remaining 550 jobs must be a matter of serious concern", given the 490 job redundancies programme and the added difficulty of three weeks of short-time working at the Kilbarry plant over the next two months.
"It would cost the IDA multiples of the €39 million to develop a similar number of jobs in Waterford," he said.
If the Government did not review "this awful decision, the knock-on effects for the Waterford area will be unthinkable," Mr O'Shea added.
Minister of State for Enterprise Billy Kelleher pointed out that the "thrust of enterprise strategy, adhered to by all governments during the past 20 years or so, is to concentrate State support to firms for investments that will help them to compete successfully in an increasingly globalised way".
Such a policy "does not extend to providing the type of support sought by the company in this case", Mr Kelleher said.
